Collectors may be dumped as host faces porn charge

Andrew Darby

THE future of the ABC's pop- ular family-viewing program Collectors is uncertain after the charging of its host, Andy Muirhead, with accessing child pornography.

The show was not screened on Friday and was removed from ABC websites after the 34-year-old from Hobart was charged with one federal offence of using the internet to carry child pornographic material.

Muirhead, a biologist and stand-up comedian, has become a national personality during the six-year history of the show. He also features as one of the ABC's national ''faces'' in its own TV ads.

The case rocked the national broadcaster's small Tasmanian community, where Muirhead worked as a breakfast radio host, as well as heading up the Hobart-based Collectors program.

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A presenter since the show began in 2005, Muirhead led a panel that built an audience of about 1 million with a family-friendly format exploring the world of collecting objects.

An ABC spokeswoman said yesterday it was working through what would happen with the show. ''It just can't be seen until ABC TV can work out what to do with it,'' the spokeswoman said.

Media crisis management specialist Anthony McClellan said the ABC had done the right thing by taking the show off air immediately.

''While Andy was very much the public face of The Collectors, a show is mostly bigger than its host,'' said Mr McClellan of AMC Media in Sydney. ''I believe this show can and should survive.''

Mr McClellan said it was a pity that in its official statement the ABC did not say that while Muirhead had been charged, the presumption of innocence should prevail. ''It is an important element for an employer to say,'' he said.

Muirhead grew up in Sale, Gippsland, before moving to Tasmania at 16, where he went to The Friends School and then the University of Tasmania.

He began amateur stand-up comedy in Hobart, developing a snappy repartee that he combined with a career as a Forestry Tasmania field biologist.

His climb up the comedy ladder included winning a competitive spot at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival before he landed the Collectors host's role. He has said his own collecting passion is 1960s and '70s transistor radios.

There was no sign of Muirhead at his Quayle Street, Sandy Bay, home yesterday. He is due to appear in court in Hobart on August 2.